Spain: Telefonica aims to lead pay-TV in a year

From David Del Valle in Madrid

Telefonica aims to become the pay-TV leader in Spain within a year when it hopes to reach over 1.5 million subscribers.

The General Director of TV Content at Telefonica, Luis Velo, has announced that the company will rely on exclusive sports content (including football, Formula One and the World Motorcycling Championship) to achieve the mark of over 1.5 million subscribers in a year and a total of 3 million in 2016. To this end, the company will also use its widespread fibre optic network with a current reach of 3.5 million homes to be extended to 7 million homes over the next years.

Currently, Telefonica’s IPTV service Movistar TV has 670,000 pay TV clients in Spain and is involved in a fierce fight with aggressive marketing campaigns to boost subscriptions. At the same, the company is considering to take over Canal Plus, where it already has a 22 per cent stake, by acquiring the majority of shares, although a disagreement on the price of the operation is still on the table.